Reducing Food Waste

A few times a month, Mary Kaiser, my colleague at the conservation nonprofit World Wildlife Fund, rummages through her refrigerator and pulls out lonely vegetables, half-full takeout containers, and foil-wrapped mysteries. She puts everything on the counter of her Chicago kitchen and gets to work finely chopping. On the menu: Kaiser’s well-tested recipe for what she calls “everything fried rice.” Actually, there is no recipe—she simply adds whatever is in the fridge and could potentially be wasted if not otherwise used.

“It will have cooked chicken from last night’s dinner, several eggs, the last two almost-done carrots, a pepper, the cilantro left from making chimichurri, and half a lime,” says Kaiser. “The end of the hot sauce, too.” After sautéing the ingredients together, she finishes the dish with tamari and white vinegar. Whatever doesn’t get consumed that night for dinner is frozen for another time.

Working in the conservation world, Kaiser is keenly aware that one-third of all food grown and processed on the planet never makes it to the dining table. That seriously impacts water, energy, ecosystems, and wildlife—not to mention wasting hard-earned money. Food waste is an economic issue and an environmental problem.

Even if you plan all of your meals for the week and only purchase what you will consume, your best-laid plans don’t always pan out. How many times have you unexpectedly worked late and decided to grab takeout instead of whipping up the stir fry you had in mind? What, then, do you do with the veggies sitting in the fridge? These tips from WWF conservationists will help you figure that out.

Before You Grocery Shop

Clean your fridge before you go to the grocery store. Besides making room for the new items, you can see what to buy (if you used it all up), what you should buy in smaller quantities (if you let some go to waste), what not to buy (if you didn’t use it or still have enough), and you can meal plan around using the oldest stuff up first. — Isabelle Willson

Be conservative when you make your grocery list and when you shop. Buy less than you’ll actually need. We will not starve if the portion size one evening is rather small. — Veronika Schlecht

Consider buying more frozen veggies. Then you won’t waste fresh produce if it doesn’t make it in to a meal as quickly as you had planned. — Viji Thatai

In the Kitchen

Add a paper towel to salad, spinach, kale, etc. after you open the package. The paper towel absorbs moisture and keeps your greens fresh and edible longer. — Alix Grabowski

“When I have a few random things in the fridge that are close to going bad, and I don’t have a plan for them, I Google ‘recipe ingredient X, ingredient Y,’ and I almost always find something delicious to make with them.” — Karen Luz

Using Up Leftovers

“When I worked at a research institute in Stockholm, we used to do potluck lunches. Living alone, I often get sick of food I cook for myself, and when I don’t freeze leftovers, I sometimes throw them away. Potluck lunches were a win-win—getting rid of leftovers, and trying delicious food made by colleagues and friends.” — Shauna Mahajan

Boil leftover scraps—especially fruits and veggies—on the stove, turning them into a superfood/high-enzyme stew for your dogs. “We pour it into their food, or we just give it to them as a meal. They absolutely love it. It’s super healthy for them, and we aren’t wasting food.” — Irene Magafan

Making the Freezer Your Friend

Obey the three-day rule: If you made it on Sunday and don’t plan to eat it until Wednesday, it belongs in the freezer. Also assign a day of the week to eat freezer meals. “For me, my lunches come from the freezer on Thursday and Friday because those are the days when I’m too tired to prep something fresh. This saves money and ensures that items in the freezer rotate out.” — Laura Allen

Throw veggie scraps—stuff I don’t want to eat but don’t want to throw out, like kale stems, onion skins, etc.—into a big Ziploc bag in my freezer. When it is full, I make a veggie stock with it. Ditto for chicken bones and other scraps. — Mary Ta

Bonus Tip for Restaurants

“I’ve convinced my wife to split entrees with me when we go out to eat. Most restaurants give way more food for each plate than we need, so instead of having a bunch of leftovers (or leaving food behind if we can’t take it) we share one entrée. Usually, it’s plenty! If we’re still hungry after splitting, no worries—it just means we’ve left room for a little dessert.” — Kelley Ashford

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